Goodbye to a Fantastic Pianist

I can't quite grasp the fact that Marvin Hamlisch is no longer with us.  His music will, I'm sure, live on for ever - but the man who created such wonderful music is gone.  He died yesterday after a brief illness, according to his family.  He wrote the scores of many movies, and a large number of plays - and was awarded with three Academy Awards, four Emmys, one Tony, and three Golden Globe Awards.  He was 68 years old.  It doesn't seem possible that this great fountain of music will create no more.
  In the Equestrian Olympic Games, there was a jump-off yesterday to break the tie for first place in the Team Jumping competition;  Great Britain got the gold, the Netherlands took home the silver, and Saudi Arabia took the bronze.  Canada finished fifth, and the US ended in sixth place.  The Individual Jumping rounds will take place tomorrow -  Nick Skelton on Big Star (Great Britain), Maikel van der Vleuten on Verdi, and Marc Houtzager on Tamino, both from the Netherlands, qualified without any faults; Rich Fellers and Flexible (US) and Ian Millar on Star Power (Canada) are tied in 11th place with 8 faults each.
  The Team Dressage competition has ended, with Grat Britain taking the gold, Germany the silver, and the Netherlands got the bronze.  The Grand Prix Freestyle dressage rides will decide the Individual medalists on Thursday.  Charlotte Dujardin on Valegro is currently in first place, with the Netherlands in second, and another English rider in third.  Steffen Peters on Ravel is the only USA rider to proceed to the finals - they are currently tied in 7th place with a score of 76.254.
  And, a Longmont man who crashed into nine cars after taking pain medication and smoking marijuana pleaded guilty this morning to two counts of vehicular assault causing serious bodily injury.  Sean Marino, 43, entered the plea in Boulder District Court before Judge Thomas Mulvahill. In exchange for the plea, prosecutors dropped misdemeanor charges of DUI, reckless driving and 11 counts of careless driving.  Marino was arrested in March after police say he was driving at a "very high rate of speed" on 19th Street and collided with a car at Cedar Avenue with three people in it. Marino then hit a parked car before slamming into four other cars stopped at a red light at Iris Avenue, police said. The impact pushed one of the cars into the intersection, causing it to collide with other cars.
   Ten people were sent to the hospital as a result of the crash -- including Marino himself. Marino told police he had taken Percocet, a narcotic pain medication that contains oxycodone, for stomach pain before the accident. He also was taking anti-seizure medication and smoked marijuana before the crash, though both were prescribed, according to prosecutors. He also did not have valid insurance.  He is out on bond and will be sentenced on October 5, 2012.  I think that this man should never be allowed to drive any vehicle, even a lawn mower, for the rest of his life.

Wildfires All Around the Country

There are two wildfires burning in western Colorado, near the Utah border - I haven't said much about them because they are not currently affecting our air quality - and it's a hot, dry summer, and summer wildfires are normal.  -  BUT.   But, there are currently 38 large wildfires burning with little or no control, and 143 new small fires were reported over the past two days.  That's kind of scary. I have had my nose and mind buried in the happenings on Chincoteague and Assateague, and on the Olympics results from Great Britain, but that isn't a good excuse.   Wildfires have positively blossomed over the last few weeks - and I have pretty much ignored them because they don't seem to affect me.  The scenes of the fires in Oklahoma are horrific, and very little coverage is given to the 6 large fires in Montana, or the 7 large fires in Idaho.  It seems incredible - and I am truly horrified from hearing that one of the fires in Oklahoma was started by someone tossing a flaming newspaper out of their truck and into the brush beside the road.  That is just unimaginable for me.  My thoughts and prayers go out to everyone who lives near, or has lost anything, to this spate of fires....
  NBC will be showing 30 minutes of the second qualifying round of Grand Prix Jumping at 11:30 MDT today - Don't read the next few lines if you want to be surprised...  In the second jumping qualifying round, Reed Kessler and Cyana did not qualify, and Beezie didn't qualify after two refusals yesterday.  Rich Fellers (on Flexible) is currently one of twelve without any faults in the jumping competition, while McLain Ward and Antares have four faults.
   I spent most of yesterday evening sorting and labeling 250 photos on Snapfish.  Color me frustrated.  I looked at the results before bed last night, and found that most of the descriptions of the photos has migrated by one, or two, frames.  I was fit to be tied!  So I took a long, cooling walk in the neighborhood, and had to laugh at the antics of the raccoon family and the young fox kits.  There is nothing like an animal to bring me back to an "even keel."
  Speaking of even keels - there was an very interesting gathering at the harbor in Crisfield, Maryland (on the Chespeake Bay) yesterday.  They had the First Annual Buy Boat Reunion and Crab Feast there, and were very happy with the large turn-out that appeared.  Residents from throughout Delmarva filed into the Somers Cove Marina Saturday to take a step back in history as they walked onto the decks of buy boats.  The boats, a dozen of which were docked at the marina for a reunion, used to purchase oysters from the harvesting boats and transport them to dock, where they could be sold to oyster processing houses in Crisfield.  Jay Tawes, organizer of the event, said he expected up to 500 people to visit the marina throughout the reunion to remember the region's maritime history and to teach it to the next generation.
  "The kids fell in love with these boats," Tawes said. "So these boats lend themselves to the charm of not only the older people that remember them, but to the younger people that see the charm in them. Three of four of these kids said 'I want to go raise money and buy one of these boats.' "  The buy boats were popular during the 1920s and 1930s when production was at a peak, however became rare in the mid-20th century when Maryland passed a law requiring watermen to bring their catches directly to shore for better accounting of harvests and taxes.  Since then, those interested in the history of buy boats have been able to preserve several of them.
   I hope this Sunday is pleasant for you, and that you enjoy the Olympic coverage - 5 channels to choose from is a blast!